JET #4, Winter, Vol. 7, December 2017http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/1989062018-11-19T22:31:31Z2018-11-19T22:31:31ZTaming Human Nature? Reflections on Xunzi and HobbesTan, Kok-Chorhttp://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/2004792018-03-01T02:15:43Z2018-02-28T00:00:00ZTaming Human Nature? Reflections on Xunzi and Hobbes
Tan, Kok-Chor
It is a common practice to compare Thomas Hobbes with the ancient Chinese philosopher, Xunzi. Indeed, for the student who is acquainted with Hobbes and Western Philosophy but unfamiliar with Ancient Chinese philosophy, accessing Xunzi through the lens of Hobbes can help provide a tractable entry point into a different philosophical tradition. This is because, like Hobbes, Xunzi takes human nature to be bad and envisions a state of nature that, on account of human badness, is chaotic and violent. And like Hobbes, Xunzi justifies the establishment of political authority because it brings order and peace in place of chaos and violence. But the common starting points of these philosophers should not obscure some very significant differences that come to the fore on further comparison. While Hobbes believes that a powerful political authority with strong laws can maintain a well-ordered society in spite of bad human nature, Xunzi believes that a well-ordered society must also require some reformation of human nature. Thus in addition to effective laws, a truly stable and harmonious political society must also encourage the practice of rituals across the different areas of human life through which human nature is corrected. This difference with Hobbes furthermore invites a more general question with respect to human nature and political society. Is the end of political society that of securing peace and cooperation among people (regardless of their nature), or is it ultimately that of moral self-cultivation?
2018-02-28T00:00:00ZThe Novel or The Garden? Borges' Postmodern Dialogue with ChinaLin, Lidanhttp://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/1989172017-12-21T00:33:05Z2017-12-01T00:00:00ZThe Novel or The Garden? Borges' Postmodern Dialogue with China
Lin, Lidan;
"The Garden of Forking Paths" (1941) by the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges is of a highly intelligent design, full of postmodern twists. From The Thousand and One Nights, which Boreges read as a child, and later from Chinese culture, Borges learned the concept of infinity and paradox that became some of the important seeds for his stance on global postmodernism. Such stance is illustrated by the cultural and postmodern relativism embodied in the blurred boundary between fiction and reality and between the East and the West. Complex and layered, the story's narrative cleverly plays with infinite possibilities of East-West relations of the future. The story's final refusal to closure allows the reader to engage in new dialogues between the East and the West. In doing so, the sotry invites the reader to evaluate the relevance of this kind of cultural and epistemological relativism embodied in this remarkable sotry to the global world we all now live in.
2017-12-01T00:00:00ZNaturalism in Religion: Eastern and Western Perspectives as Reflected in Swami Vivekananda and John Dewey's PhilosophyKumar, Alokhttp://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/1989162017-12-21T00:33:05Z2017-12-01T00:00:00ZNaturalism in Religion: Eastern and Western Perspectives as Reflected in Swami Vivekananda and John Dewey's Philosophy
Kumar, Alok;
Naturalism in religion today is generally associated with a rejection of most forms of religious practices. However in the early twentieth century America, naturalism, in its methodological form, was used to defend the core truths of religion rather than oppose it by two prominent thinkers, one from the Eastern and the other from the Western world, namely Swami Vivekananda, the Indian spiritual teacher and John Dewey, the great American philosopher. This paper intends to show how Naturalistic interpretation of religion assumed two completely different directions under these thinkers and yet the foundations of religion were secured in divergent ways by their efforts.
2017-12-01T00:00:00ZVeda, Torah, and "The Real Book": A Comparative Hermeneutic of CanonicityGroves, Randyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/1989152017-12-21T00:33:03Z2017-12-01T00:00:00ZVeda, Torah, and "The Real Book": A Comparative Hermeneutic of Canonicity
Groves, Randy;
Barbara Holdrege’s seminal article, “Veda and Torah: The Word Embodied in Scripture” and her extended work on the same topic, “Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture,” create a bridge between the Jewish and Hindu textual traditions. This comparison of the two traditions suggests that the hermeneutics of canonicity displays a narrative logic, which can then be applied to other canons and even kinds of canons. In this paper I extend the comparative hermeneutic developed by Holdrege to another text, which is mostly unfamiliar to scholars, “The Real Book.” The Real Book is the canonical text for jazz musicians. I will be putting the interpretative activity of the Rabbis and Brahmavadins on a spectrum with jazz interpretation and improvisation, which will show the exegetical logic of canon and interpretation across distinct media.
2017-12-01T00:00:00Z